


Detroit: Zero Dawn

by othersin



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable Connor, Alternate Universe, Connor Deserves Happiness, M/M, Post-Apocalypse, Protective Hank Anderson, Protective Parent Hank Anderson, Robot animals, Robot/Human Relationships, Sad Hank Anderson, Science Fiction, Yaoi, android vs human civil war, biomechanical, elijah is an arsehole, hey there's a cut in the sky, hunting robot animals, its probably cyberlife's fault, the world belongs to the robots now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 04:45:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19369945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/othersin/pseuds/othersin
Summary: a kinda xover with Detroit: become human and horizon zero dawn. When the great cataclysm shook the very being of the world, wiping out most of humanity with their own foolishness that split the sky and corrupted the earth - sculpting the land into it's new, twisted form. Pockets of humanity still exist, like in the settlement called 'New Detroit' - ruled by Elijah Kamski, who has rules everyone must obey and the ability to hunt or gather thirium enriched materials and artifacts or be thrown to the wilderness if their quota is not met.Hank Anderson is one of the humans that were thrown to the wolves so to speak, with the death of his young son he is no longer hunting for the camp but more so for the thrill and chance to feel alive again or finally end it all in smoke and flames. With the changing terrain, the bio-hybrid beasts have birthed from the chaotic cataclysm - roaming the new land and offering a challenge to the aged, nothing to lose hunter. Though Hank wasn't expecting one of his laid out traps to catch a blue blood, a bio-hybrid descended from the androids from a bygone era, nor was he expecting how unearthly and beautiful they were.





	Detroit: Zero Dawn

* * *

_A spindly creature, larger and with antler like extensions extruded from its helm, a glowing optic glowed eerily as it continued to survey the grass plains. The horn like appendages seemed to denote the creature as a stag, the creatures that once roamed freely in this once uncontaminated land, while the smaller built creatures had wily antennae like flesh ribbons curled and waved with a mind of their own._

_The dimming sunlight diffused on their hides, the light was warm and yellow – catching the remaining dew on the grass from the night before, it would almost be beautiful if it wasn’t the broken sky above them. A strange discolored gash run across the sky_

_Milky white synthetic flesh stretched on a strong looking endo-skeleton stood alert and cautious as the small herd gathered around the blue liquid filled shallow puddle– a pool of Thirium glimmered and shimmered served as nourishment for the herd, the dirt had long since been contaminated since the last great war and the bright blue fluid sometimes seeped from the ground_

_The stag nuzzled a smaller built female unit briefly before straightening out and continuing his alert lookout as the doe began to drink under the watchful unseen sensor of the bio-hybrid beast, a small fawn had let out squeaks and chirps to its parental units_

_“Look at that…” A small boy whispered reverently poking his head barely above the long grass – his head shoved down sternly but gently._

_“Cole, keep your damn head down” the man whispered harshly, his dirty blonde hair and bead were turning silver – braided with wire and copper giving his hair some pops of colour were pulled back with a shaven side. Both of them were squatting in the long grass trying to remain hidden. A large axe was strapped on the older man’s back, a stained cotton shirt and a fur vest was the man’s clothes of choice with pants strapped with linen strips to stop his cloths from getting caught._

_Cole was tiny compared to his father, and Hank was having second thoughts on taking the boy on a scavenger job – but Cole was just so excited to go, Jeffery, that fat bastard said it might do the boy some good to learn the tools of the trade when he handed Hank his quota for that bastard Kamski._

_The man demanded scrap, thirium and artifacts as payment for keeping their settlement safe, Hank detested the man but he was the only one that was able to use and manage the ancient human technology that acted as a defense system that surrounded the city. The technology was from a bygone era, an era of humanity and conflict – the scars of that conflict still linger around them but amazingly life still pushed on._

_A life not for humans, but for machines. The life that was once shown in the surviving texts, the ones they were able to get to work again after the great black out was shown reverently by Kamski – promising the scattered people that the more they worked the closer they were to reclaim their right to this land._

_The detestable man had requested this ancient technology, thirium to power the encampment and his own designed weapons._

_Hank just felt this world didn’t want humanity anymore, the wounds and betrayal got too much for this land – corrosive liquid metals ran into most of the once clean water, the Badlands had still a radioactive reading even after the thousands of years after humanity decided to fuck everything up and the sky was still weeping from its open wound. Hank couldn’t help those thoughts that plagued him, with his young son though he could only make the best out of this horrid situation._

_The boys slight frame was dressed warmly, in clothes that either once belonged to Hank or hand me downs from one of the other children in the human encampment in the large clearing._

_“They are calm…” Hank sighed thankful for that small blessing, watching the creatures carefully, their white flesh was stretched thinly on their chest, the Thirium pumps glowed brightly with each breath they made – a calm blue colour emulating from the does but the stags was a constant yellow and blue aura as it continued to survey._

_While it was not interfacing season for the beasts the stags have been known to shoot or even gore intruders with their horns. Becoming enraged, makes them unpredictable and dangerous even in such a small herd the chaos and cries often bringing the more dangerous bio-hybrid beasts to enter the fray. Hank tried not to stare at the small fawn by its parental units’ hooves, tried not to feel guilt at what he had to do_

_In fact, the other bio-hybrid beasts might start emerging soon anyway – with a pocket of thirium seeping from the ground often creating a frenzy among all the beasts but with the promise of much needed nutrients it was usual the only thing they had in their animalistic minds._

_“Dad, why do we follow the  deer?” Cole asked curiously, looking at a fawn of one playing around its mothers’ spindly legs and hooves._

_“…” Hank pursed his lips together a little tightly, trying to determine how his son would react to the creatures being the scavenge to acquire. “These ones are a little safer for a first scavenge.” Which also meant they were a smaller scavenge too – while Cole was with him, he wasn’t going to try and take on anything bigger_

_“Is it what they eat?” Cole questioned his father, “Is that why we have to kill them…”_

_“Cole, we’ve been through this – they are simulated life, they are not real.” Hank said gently, his son’s reluctance even made Hank feel even worse._

_The doe cooed happily, a strange metallic wobble emitted from its voice box - the light that filled their chests and seams of their limbs made them even more over worldly, the synthetic flesh even had the faint blue lines of the capillaries that covered the expanse of the thin flesh covering the synthetic muscle tissue._

_“They look alive to me…” Cole said softly, Hank clapped his sons shoulder gently._

_“The only way we can harvest pure thirium safely is when it is in the gut of the Bio-hybrid creatures” Hank muttered softly watching the creatures in question, the light blue tongue was dipping into the dark blue fluid , trying to find an opening out of the stag’s sensor to approach the family, Cole looked vaguely concerned – the fawn let out a mechanical sounding chirp and the doe nuzzled her baby again directing it to the glowing pool to drink too._

_“Did you bring the knife I gave you?” Hank asked, the boy nodded slowly._

_“Do we need to get scrap from this deer” Cole began lowly and a little sadly, “They are a family…”_

_“Cole, this is the last chance we have on this side of the valley - the radiation is too high further into the forest at this time of year and we got to prepare for winter.” Hank tried to explain to the boy, whose brow furrowed at that – Cole looking unsure. Hank couldn’t ask for a concession from Kamski again, the man hasn’t been known to be given second chances if you didn’t bring back what you promised._

_“…” Cole just looked sadly at his hands; Hank hated that look – he couldn’t bear that look._

_“Cole, you know why we need to fill our quota for scrap and thirium.” Hank continued, not adding if they didn't they were on their own - Hank saw and lost good friends who were forced to leave the encampment. Hank wasn't getting any younger, and soon it will just be Cole to go on these hunts to earn his keep. Hank has accepted that fate gracefully but it didn't stop his fatherly side get in the way and regretting to make his sweet boy hunt and kill._

_“If Kamski wants the blue stuff and scrap so badly, he should get it himself.” Cole huffed, tearing up, but still obeying his father – knowing that this is what they had to do to survive._

_“I know…I know…” Hank mumbled back, finally spotting an opening – he held a hand out in a stilling motion to his son as he slowly began his squatting walk, hoping the tall grass hid them well still. Cole followed carefully behind, still looking back at the little foal that pranced around happily its mouth smeared with blue thirium. The stag sensor and thirium pumps light shifted fully yellow and shone directly over the long grass as a crack of a stick was heard, a stick unseen was under Cole's foot._

_They could see the sensor slowly shift to red, and the stag began to dig its hoof though the dirt in protective irritation – moving in front of the doe and foal. Hank slowly began to reach for his axe anticipating the robotic deer to charge at them._

_The low huffing and whirring noise were the shrill warning making the humans still, anticipating the need to dodge out of the way. But before the stag could charge, it’s attention soon shifted to the deeper forest where a metallic screech sounded out from the depths._

_The bio-hybrid deer backed away the light turning a scared yellow, chattering noisily as they uneasily shifted away, turning on their hooves, running and leaping away in bounds. The synthetic muscles rippling under the almost crystalline flesh into the forest trying to hide themselves from whatever made that noise. The sound of frantic branches breaking and the sound of something large charging though the growth – Hank recognized the whirl and scream of that metallic beast, usually they remained by water but they must have been drawn up by the thirium and the sounds of prey like creatures. But then it shifted to a low charging sound, the air vibrated in the intensity._

_“Oh shit…” Hank was the only thing Hank could say before he grabbed Cole, wrapping the boy in a bear like lunged hug, a bright blue of plasma blasted just overhead them – Hank clutched the boy shielding the boy against the ground for safety, but his shirt and back had been burnt though. The searing pain was not really on Hank’s mind though– the creatures finally emerged into the grassy plains; the large treads of the beasts shook the ground with every step as they emerged to fight._

_He kept his son hidden in the long grass – as two bio-hybrid beasts, almost crocodile like, snapped and hissed at each other. Their forms had been pretty torn up by the others teeth and their own thirium pump glowed inside them like a furious, blazing ember – latching onto the other and twisting and thrashing around, they were two bulls it seemed. It seemed the deer had the best idea on fleeing rather than getting caught in the cross fire especially since the metallic plated armored flesh looked like it was red hot and the air around them warped in the heat from the recently discharged plasma._

_“Dad…” Cole said trembling against the broad chest, Hank could barely hear him over the ringing of his ears as the screeching got even louder - and whirring and sound of the air vibrating as the particles reached an extreme temperature as one them decided the grappling wasn’t getting anywhere and fired its plasma cannon from its mouth as it was pinned down and going to have its throat ripped out. Now, the mere force of the blast rippled the ground – the long grass concealing the two humans blew flat against them as though there was storm like gusts suddenly. Hank held Cole harder, as he was certain that the small boy was going to be blown away – he even slid backwards a little against the force of the blast._

_He didn't care, he had to keep Cole safe._

_Its opponent had half its head off blown off, showing off the strange innards that the creature possessed – the shiny endo-skeleton was poking out from the ripped blue muscle, plump with thirium with a sparking optic had been melted from the sheer heat of plasma. The gaping hole in its face got even worse as the creature struggled desperately against the other, blue dripping claws swiped forward quickly – ripping off the jaw as the creature began to suffocate on its own thirium, the long tongue hangs uselessly from where the maw once hinged the jaw._

_The open wound was bleeding blue as the monstrous bio-hybrid twitched uncontrollably as the final nerves fired off within its circuitry and the other kicked off the dying creature, screaming out its victory for all the land to hear._

_Both Hank and Cole stayed frozen in the long glass till they heard the surviving beast take its fill of the split thirium and bloody blue flesh of its opponent. It slowly begins its journey through the forest back to its gloomy watery nest. It was probably another five minutes before Hank stood up, surveying the smoldering ground and trees either knocked down, bent or even still on fire – eyes falling towards the twitching corpse of the crocodile like creature, whirring out pitifully._

_Cole stood up, trembling and eyes wide open – looking a little ill as the boy looked at the limp bio-hybrid creature, eyes glossy with tears._

_“Cole, you alright?” Hank asked the boy gently even a little pale himself, ears ringing horribly, the boy nodded though a little dazed looking. Hank frowned a little at that response but continued,_

_“Guess it’s not deer today…” Hank gestured to Cole, the boy pulled out the small dagger – hand trembling as he did, the excitement the boy once felt when Hank gave the dagger had long since soured from the fear and death of today. Hank paused, reaching out gently to surround his sons’ hands with his own larger ones to still the shaking – pulling the dagger away and pulling out a sack like bag that had been almost forgotten by his side._

_Hank could feel his shirt burned and the skin on his back burning and blistering, blood making it itch and hot feeling – but he couldn’t tend his wounds just yet. They approached the limp body; the fearsome creature looked crumpled and mangled and the parts needed seemed to be damaged but the thirium pump looked in good shape still. The thirium pump still had hints of its mechanic, man-made ancestry but like the creature’s body, synthetic muscle made it seem like a twist of organic and metal and the thirium tank or the creature’s stomach and digestive system was still intact. The light of the innards started to dim as Hank knelt by the creature, Cole reached forward and placed a gentle hand on the creature’s flank as the light finally was extinguished and six optics finally going black - dagger tore though the flesh like butter, the muscle fibers once cut glowed briefly at the ends before dimming to black ._

_They harvested the remains silently but quickly, in case another more terrifying beast emerged, and Hank found himself detesting this world a little more._

* * *

 Hank opened his eyes, cheeks slightly damp from tears he hadn't realized he shed during that painful dream like memory , feeling like how he probably looked. Hank lay on the makeshift bed, made from hay and fur covers. He sat up and the large dog next to him shifted sleepily, snoring deeply – the place he called home now is just a simple hut in the wilderness, in the outskirts of the new border of the new Detroit.

The great cataclysm of the past completely remade the world, humanity had been removed from the top of the food chain – their creations had gained even greater sentience and power in this new world. The bio-hybrid creatures becoming the norm while red blooded animals were becoming hard to come by - the difficulty of life made it near impossible for human society not to dissolve into 'every man for himself' mentality.  

His once reasonably kept hair spilled around his head in a wild mess and his bead bushy, his once grey at the roots blonde hair had gone fully silver and the nick knacks he had tried in his hair had been long since cut out or untied and hair had been mattered with blackened coal or clay with the way it clumped on his head. He sat up, and pulled himself up – nude and scarred body bared for the world to see, the burn form that frightful encounter he dreamed about was a risen pink scar by now; skin puckered and twisted around it. Scars of various degrees of whiteness and age doted the main bulk of his body, an unfortunate side effect of living in this age of angry bio-hybrid machines that really don’t like humans; Hank was surprised he didn’t lose an arm with the way he is thrown around by one of them the other day.

While he was not that skinny, years of outside work and the often-frantic hunts made for a heavyset body and ability with a large axe – looking incredibly strong with a stocky build. Hank rubbed his face, taking a step forward but stilling at the feeling of a large empty drink skins under his foot. His head screamed at him for drinking all that dirty wine, the wine was often just made from whatever fermented fruit that was grown or found by the maker of it, if asked what it was they often shrugged – it tasted like crap but it could knock out a grown man out cold or put one foot in the ground.

Hank squinted as he looked outside as the sun began to rise, the sky as broken as it was before; the glare made his bile rise as well – body feeling ready to begin to dry heave, making him collapse on the ground outside as he threw up the toxic alcohol and the dried meat he chewed at to cover the taste of the bad wine. While they boasted they could turn anything into alcohol, there are some lines that never should be crossed.

The cool morning didn’t really help against his overheated body, the bile burning as it exited forcefully – eyes still watering and nose dripping. The large dog woke at the sound of his owners’ distress, moving to sit next to the crumpled man, letting out a low whine.

“No Sumo…” Hank groaned, waving away the dog – voice horse and sounding painful. The dog let out a low whine but wondered off, ears picking up briefly, probably to hear some damn bio-hybrid rodent that poked around the undergrowth that Hank hadn’t been able to catch just as yet.

Stupid things have been trying to chew at the meager food he was able to grow himself – the wheat and corn is near impossible to grow outside of the human encampment due to unstable bio zone and the fast rodents that Sumo loves to chase, those fast bastards zapped and bit Hank when he tried to shoo them away. He has the burns and old blister scars at those creatures attacks - he fucking hates those electric rats. Cole wanted one for a pet for the longest time, was able to change the boys mind when he returned from a scavenge with a pup though

Hank’s stomach stopped turning on its self, wiping the reminder of sick off his mouth but beard catching some of it – spitting grossly on the ground to remove the bile that wanted to cling in his mouth. He thought of the last time he was this sick, dirty apple cider from the large apple tree he remembered from the human encampment or ‘New Detroit’ as the elite tried to spin it –  they were growing wild like thorny brambles , though by now the apples were probably inedible and the leaves had long since fallen in the hostile atmosphere – the bio-mechanical roots and vines had wrapped itself around the Apple tree, strangling it to an inch of its life as the bio-hybrid and thirium had further eaten away at the tree. Trying to replace once a beautiful tree with ruby red fruit – like the mechanical rot was trying to replicate what an apple tree in its own image, like basing it off a bad photo or a blind artists rendition. The vines even tried to tempt with its off-putting blackened fruit, still apple shape but once it was cut into, it was filled with glowing blue seeds – not apple-like at all.

Hank groaned, just lying on the ground waiting for the sickness to past – the cool grass felt nice on his overheated body; trying to ignore Sumo and the fuss he was making.

* * *

 A massive bio-hybrid creature watched the human carefully with a curious and cautious tilt of its head and what was best described as a pointed muzzle, the thirium pump and sensor light filled its chest and joint seams with a dull yellow glow. Its masked rider seemed more interested in the human’s own companion, a strange furry creature that started to wag its tail and make noises upon noticing them in the deep forest.

The creature seemed to that of almost a similar shape of a wolf that once roamed the land in the wild and in packs – much larger than any still living wolves, similar in build and temperament to that of the ancient dire wolf. Its rider patted it gently on its flank, mask seemed to be that of a metallic skull of a horned beast – the metal mask was rough and patched in some places and a cloak of shiny, almost scaly leather or synthetic skin trailed behind him from the mask. The masked figure was slight in appearance, hands were snow white and pale almost blending into the flank of the bio mechanical dire wolf.

The rider was almost humanoid in form, besides the long winding segmented tail poked out from beneath the cloak – white and spinal looking. Though at the tip looked to be tendrils similar to the small live wires; glowing at the tips with cool blue lights moving in their own way slowly – the riders interest shifted away from the fluffy creature when the human whistled for the slobbering beast to come towards him.

“Sumo, what the fuck are you barking at?” The human muttered out, the onlooker counting them self lucky as the human was lost in his own world and not actively trying to see if there is something to be wary about like a spying bio-hybrid wolf and a blue-blooded scout. The scout in question seemed torn to catching the human by surprise or ignoring the grumbling human with the tense way the masked scout drummed his fingers against a staff, made from bio-hybrid parts and a mix of old human technology what can be assumed as a weapon.

The human went back into the hut to get changed, the furry thing following the other happily – forgetting the curious interlopers for the moment. The rider slung the weapon around his shoulders, fastened by a loose strap – climbing up on the dire wolf, digging their heels in the wolfs side. Letting out a shrill clicking sound, far mechanical in nature to be replicated naturally but that is what the wolf responded to – bounding away quickly, dodging between the mix of bio-hybrid corrupted plants and the greenery that tried to hang in there.

* * *

 

 TBC?

This is a weird xover of horizon zero dawn, and Detroit become human.  

 

 

 


End file.
